- California Healthline Original Stories 2
- California Funds Nonprofits To Serve Food As Medicine
- Lag In Brain Donation Hampers Understanding Of Dementia In Blacks
- Hospital Roundup 1
- Bay Area ACO Co-Founded By UCSF Adding 3 Dignity Hospitals To In-Network Provider List
- Pharmaceuticals 1
- CVS In Cahoots With PBMs To Pocket Extra Money From Prescription Drugs, Calif. Woman Claims
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Only Calif. Republican To Schedule Town Halls Over Break Met With Raucous Crowd
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
California Funds Nonprofits To Serve Food As Medicine
The state is investing $6 million in a three-year effort to deliver healthy meals and groceries to chronically ill Medi-Cal patients at doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals. (Kellen Browning, )
Lag In Brain Donation Hampers Understanding Of Dementia In Blacks
A long history of racism and cruel experimentation in health care are among the reasons African-American families oppose donating patients’ brains for study. (Anna Gorman, )
More News From Across The State
Bay Area ACO Co-Founded By UCSF Adding 3 Dignity Hospitals To In-Network Provider List
The expansion of the Canopy network is part of a broader push by providers to better compete with Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, the two dominant health systems in the Bay Area.
The Mercury News:
Dignity Health, UCSF Health Announce Bay Area Collaboration
Dignity Health and UCSF Health on Tuesday announced a new affiliation that will bring UCSF Health’s academic expertise to three Dignity Health hospitals in the Bay Area: Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. The organizations also have signed a letter of intent for doctors at Dignity Health Medical Group Sequoia and at Dignity Health Medical Group Saint Francis/St. Mary’s to collaborate with UCSF clinical faculty in sharing best practices and improving access, quality, efficiency and coordination of care for shared patients. (Seipel, 8/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
UCSF, Dignity To Expand Bay Area Accountable Care Network
With the new Dignity additions — St. Mary’s Medical Center and St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City — the Canopy network will have 4,000 physicians, 16 hospitals and about 15,000 patients, or “members.” This means that any Dignity patient who gets insurance through Health Net Blue & Gold HMO — the approved insurance plan for the Canopy network — will have access to UCSF doctors, and vice versa. (Ho, 8/8)
In other hospital news —
East Bay Times:
UCSF And Stanford In Top 20 In US News Hospital Rankings
The Bay Area has two of the top ten medical institutions in the nation, according to the US News & World Report’s 2017-2018 Best Hospitals survey. UCSF Medical Center ranks fifth and Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital ranks ninth, according to the popular accolade, released Tuesday. An increasing number of organizations, such as Consumer Reports and the federal government’s Medicare and Medicaid Services, evaluate hospitals on a broad array of data-driven measures. (Krieger, 8/8)
CVS In Cahoots With PBMs To Pocket Extra Money From Prescription Drugs, Calif. Woman Claims
Megan Schultz is suing the largest U.S. pharmacy chain saying it hides drugs' cash price even though they are cheaper.
Bloomberg:
CVS Health Is Sued Over ‘Clawbacks’ Of Prescription Drug Co-Pays
CVS Health Corp. was sued by a California woman who accused the drugstore operator of charging customers co-payments for certain prescription drugs that exceed the cost of medicines. CVS, the largest U.S. pharmacy chain, overbilled consumers who used insurance to pay for some generic drugs and wrongfully hid the fact that the medicines’ cash price was cheaper, Megan Schultz said in her Aug. 7 lawsuit. Schultz said in one case she paid $166 for a generic drug that would have cost only $92 if she’d known to pay cash. (Feeley and Hopkins, 8/8)
Covered California & The Health Law
Only Calif. Republican To Schedule Town Halls Over Break Met With Raucous Crowd
One attendee told Rep. Doug LaMalfa, "May you die in pain."
Roll Call:
GOP Members Face Tough Town Halls At Home
As town halls replace committee meetings during this last stretch of summer, Republican congressmen find themselves facing increasingly critical and at times raucous crowds of voters. Rep. Doug LaMalfa represents a California district that he won by 15 percent and voted overwhelmingly for President Donald J. Trump in 2016, but none of that was apparent Monday as the Republican congressman heard from his harshest critics. Over the course of the hour-long town hall, LaMalfa was on the defensive as constituents booed and asked for his resignation. One man told the congressman, “May you die in pain.” (Stewart, 8/8)
LA Eyes Major Overhaul To Agency That Serves As Guardian For Mentally Ill
A massive case load and staffing problems contribute to the the cycle of poor care for some of the city's most vulnerable residents.
KPCC:
LA Officials Call For Overhaul Of System That Cares For Severely Mentally Ill
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to pursue an overhaul of the Office of the Public Guardian by looking for ways to bring down caseloads, improve the quality of services, and ensure those who qualify for public guardianship are getting adequate care. The move comes as the county embarks on a massive effort to address homelessness and cut the number of people ending up in jail because of untreated mental illness. (Palta, 8/8)
In other news from across the state —
KQED:
Is This Deal Humane?
In California, local jails get paid millions to house immigrants facing deportation. But some critics say bad conditions and inadequate health care in these jails puts detainees at risk. (Pickoff-White, Small and Dirks, 8/8)
Capital Public Radio:
California's Marijuana Regulation Agency Has A New Name
California's lead agency for marijuana regulation has gone by many names. The Bureau of Cannabis Control is the latest. The change reflects a wider trend away from the term "marijuana" in favor of "cannabis." (Mitric, 8/8)
Life-Extending Protein Hormone Boosts Brain Functionality, UCSF Study Finds
But it's still unknown if the hormone, klotho, would be able to be administered as a drug to enhance that functionality in humans.
The Mercury News:
UCSF Study: Hormone Improves Memory, Motor Skills In Mice
Injecting a life-extending protein hormone produced at high levels by a minority of people rapidly improved the cognitive and physical performance of young, aging or impaired mice, according to new research from UC San Francisco. While previous studies of the hormone klotho had revealed links between elevated klotho levels and better cognitive skills that research had been done with mice genetically engineered to continuously produce high klotho levels and in people carrying genetic variants that caused them to have high klotho levels throughout life. (Seipel, 8/8)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
Federal Grant Will Encourage Californians To Shop At Farmers Markets
In July, the department launched the California Nutrition Incentive Program, or CNIP, which rewards recipients of CalFresh food stamps who buy fruits and vegetables grown in the state by doubling the value of their vouchers when they purchase at 339 farmers markets throughout the state. The program’s latest infusion of funds, a three-year Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, builds on several million dollars in private funding and $5 million initially allocated by the state Legislature in 2016 to match federal dollars. (Knowles, 8/8)
KPBS:
VA Study Shows Yoga Can Lower Dependence On Pain Meds
The Veterans Health Administration is searching for ways to wean veterans off pain medication. A new study from the San Diego VA shows that the right kind of yoga can be a long term solution. (Walsh, 8/7)
Trump Stops Short Of Declaring National Emergency For Opioid Epidemic
President Donald Trump focused on the need for prevention and law enforcement, but offered no concrete policy ideas in a brief meeting about the crisis.
Reuters:
Trump Vows To 'Win' Against Opioid Epidemic, Offers No New Steps
President Donald Trump promised to win the fight against a U.S. epidemic of opioid drug use, but offered no new steps to do so and did not act on a recommendation made by a presidential commission that he declare a national emergency. Trump spoke at an event he had billed as a "major briefing" on the opioid crisis during a two-week "working vacation" at his private golf club in New Jersey. He also used the appearance to unexpectedly issue a stern warning to North Korea over its threats to the United States. (Chiacu and Oliphant, 8/8)
USA Today:
Trump Calls Opioid Deaths 'A Tremendous Problem' But Doesn't Declare National Emergency
President Trump on Tuesday stressed the importance of prevention and law enforcement in a briefing on the opioid crisis at his New Jersey golf course, but stopped short of declaring the state of national emergency that his own opioid commission has recommended. Health Secretary Tom Price told said the administration has the resources it needs to combat the epidemic without invoking the emergency powers. (Korte, 8/8)
The New York Times:
Vowing Again To Tackle Opioid Crisis, Trump Faults His Predecessor
Meeting with top advisers during his working vacation in New Jersey, Mr. Trump cited statistics saying that deaths stemming from opioid overdoses had skyrocketed in recent years and had become the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. He spoke generally about better health care and law enforcement action as well as guarding the southern border. “It’s a tremendous problem in our country, and I hope we get it taken care of as well as it can be taken care of — hopefully better than any other country that also has these same problems,” he told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. “Nobody is safe from this epidemic that threatens all — young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural communities. Everybody is threatened.” (Baker and Shear, 8/8)
The Washington Post:
Trump Holds Off On Declaring Opioid Crisis A National Emergency
[Trump] said the “best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place.” “If they don’t start, they won’t have a problem. If they do start, it’s awfully tough to get off,” Trump told reporters at the clubhouse at his private golf club. “So if we can keep them from going on — and maybe by talking to youth and telling them: ‘No good, really bad for you in every way.’ But if they don’t start, it will never be a problem.” (Johnson and Wagner, 8/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Emphasizes Tough Law Enforcement In Comments On Opioid Epidemic
The commission Trump appointed to study the epidemic, headed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, recommended last week that Trump declare a national emergency, but its report emphasized medical solutions, not law enforcement. “We must act boldly to stop it,” the commission wrote. “The opioid epidemic we are facing is unparalleled.” The interim report, which the authors said would be updated in the fall, included several recommendations to lift restrictions on the use of federal funds. Current rules limit states’ use of Medicaid money for residential addiction treatment. (Bierman and Levey, 8/8)